HIGH COUNTRY GEMS

John Arnold of scumliner media and Pat Clayton of Fish Eye Guy Photography met up a couple weeks ago for a trip to spy on cutthroat trout that spawn in the high country creeks.  John pieced his video with Pat's images for these moments of cutthroat Zen.



More goodness on the scumliner media Vimeo page and the Fish Eye Guy Photography website.

FISH BEAVER ISLAND WITH TROUTS FLY FISHING

On my way up to Michigan for the annual Beaver Island trip, Kyle Wilkinson of Trouts Fly Fishing sent a heads up that they have two last minute openings for their shop trip July 23rd through July 29th. 

The Trouts Fly Fishing Beaver Island trip includes five full days of guided fly fishing with the Indigo Guide Service crew, lodging, breakfast and lunch for the very reasonable price $1,500.  If you do the math, this is a steal for a trip like this.

Dates open on your calendar?  Make this  happen.  Need some more persuading?  Check out a few of Kyle's photographs from our trip last summer.

I have been coming to Beaver Island for the past six years and this place continues to impress.  The island, the fly fishing, the scenery, the pace of the week all spell good times.

Interested?  Check out the Trouts Fly Fishing website for more information and hit Kyle up by email at kyle@troutsflyfishing.com.

HEX

I am on Beaver Island and across the lake on the mainland the Hex is going off on the rivers and sand bottom lakes.  Tommy Greene of The Fly posted this short video yesterday and it captures the weirdness of this tasty trout midnight snack.



More goodness on The Fly website and Vimeo page.  Follow on Instagram too.

Phischfud Art & Design - The Bluegill

The other day I received a message on Instagram from Austin Jensen of Phischfud Art & Design saying that he had sketched up a bluegill from a photograph that I had posted a long time ago.  I dig his take and glad that he allowed me to post on T.F.M. for all to enjoy. The #yearofthebluegill lives on.

Follow Austin on Instagram @phischfud and email him at phischfud@gmail.com if you're interested in a commission.

DOWN HOME FLYFISHING: The 17 Year Itch Cicada

While driving up to Michigan the other day I received a message from Dave Zielinski of Down Home Flyfishing to get to his waters NOW for some crazy good fishing.  I had to pass this time around but when the cicada pop off again, I'm making a road trip for sure.

Dave was kind enough to send along a fly tutorial for his 17 Year Itch Cicada and a few images just to show you that it works.

Dave wrote...  "It's been epic fishing lately.  It's waning, but man, was it good.  Good like twenty-nine carp in one afternoon.   The way they eat a cicada is intense and in real life slo-motion!  We have been fishing Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and some of eastern Ohio too.

They circulate a pool or eddy on the river, with their backs sometimes out of the water.  The way their eyes are positioned, makes it tough for them to look up and eat.  So when they find a bug, they swim downstream of it, line up with it floating down, raise their heads, open wide and "find" it.  You have to train yourself to wait...wait...wait....SET!

The video tutorial for my "17 Year Itch Cicada" is not a realistic type of pattern but that really doesn't matter.  Black. Orange. 1-1/2" long body.  We fished this fly exclusively and had no refusals.  The fly holds up well, but pay attention to the super glue steps.  To fish it, do not use a silicone floatant on the foam.  That will make it ride way to high.  You want it in the film."

Visit the Down Home Flyfishing website for more goodness and follow along on Instagram too. Oh yeah, DZ's Flickr account is a fun flip through as well.

FIND YOUR WATER: Farming Fish

Redington's latest Find Your Water episode gives you the behind the curtains look on what it takes to build this video series. 



It's not always easy to make these films and a lot of work goes into each one from prep to film to edit.

Visit the Redington website for more great videos and of course, gear.

Always Have A Backup Plan - A Day With East Anglers

On the way home from Charleston on Saturday afternoon I was scratching my head on what to do on Sunday.  I could fish the family pond.  I could always work outside, mow, trim, and weed the garden boxes.  I could also get everything prepped for Beaver Island, Michigan.  Or, I could call Ben Moore from East Anglers and see if he wanted to fish.  A couple text messages, a phone call, and our day was set.  We'd float the Savannah River that splits Georgia and South Carolina and look for smallmouth.

It's always good to have a backup plan.  I've wanted to fish this river again since our last float a couple years ago.

Since it's been blistering hot, Ben suggested that we get an early start and met at a gas station just after 7 a.m.  We dropped off my vehicle at the take out and then ran up river to drop in.  The Savannah River is a really beautiful stretch of water and levels and clarity were excellent on this trip.

It was a beautiful morning and we started with poppers and dry flies but soon changed over to dark colored buggers to run deep through the shoals.  It took a little while to get things started but as morning moved over to early afternoon things started turning around.  Ben fought two large smallmouth that likely pushed four pounds but came both came unbuttoned before we could get them into the net.  No worries since it was great to see that they were there.  Even more important, we caught quite a few different age class fish from small to medium in size.  It's excellent to see the next generations in the river as well.

All in all a great day on the water with Ben and since he's leaving to guide in Montana for the summer soon, our last chance to fish together before he comes back in the fall.

Ben Moore runs low drag without a website and posts regularly on the East Anglers Facebook page.  Follow him there and if you're interested in getting on the schedule for the fall, send him an email at eastanglers@gmail.com.

Jose's "Last One"

Growing up I watched a lot of Spanish Fly and this is a great last episode. 



Several years have passed since Jose's untimely death and it's still hard to believe that he's gone. 

Saturday Morning At The Flood Tide Co. Lab

This past weekend I made a quick run down to Charleston with some hopes of geting on the water and look for a redfish or whatever.  A broken boat, lousy weather, and busy guide friends changed my plans once I was there but thankful to Paul Puckett and Will Abbott at Flood Tide Co. for letting me crash on their couch for a night.

On Saturday morning before leaving, I walked around the house that the Flood Tide Co. calls home and snapped some images with my 50mm lens.  I am always interested in where inspiration comes from and the Flood Tide Co. building is one part studio for artist Paul Puckett, one part office and warehouse for their growing apparel company, and then one part living room (call it a lounge or think tank) with sound equipment to record the "Barely Live" podcast, day drink, hold "business" meetings, or whatever other hijinks happen along the way.

I dig seeing where artists and small businesses work and from paint brushes to baby doll heads to vinyl LPs, the Flood Tide Co. lab is one wonderfully weird place.  Here's a few images from my walk through on Saturday morning before leaving.

Thanks again boys for the place to rest me head.  Proof that I'm not too old to couch surf though I wish I had brought a towel for the shower as I had to dry off with a couple small wash cloths I found at Publix.  It worked but didn't really work at the same time.

Check out the Flood Tide Co. website and like I mentioned in "10 For Spring", use discount code "FIBERGLASS" for 15% off your order.  Promo code is good through tomorrow.

The Stimi Hatch: Small Stream Dry Fly Fishing

Dang, it's good to see Ivan from Yukon Goes Fishing working from behind the lens and edit room again.  Enjoy.



Need more?  Check out the website and play video after video from the past on the Vimeo page.

MY OLD MAN

I hadn't planned on posting this morning but it's Father's Day and this image of my dad popped into my head when I woke up.  It's from a trip this past December with guide Steve Martinez and photographer Robert Yaskovic.  (You can catch up on those posts HERE and HERE.)  Good times on the river with good dudes, dads, and my dad, also a good dude.

This photograph will always make me smile as my dad had just been giving Robert shit for farming a very large double (maybe triple?) striped steelhead on the swing in a way that only he can.  My old man has had a way with the trash talk for as long as I can remember and he always does it with a twinkle in his eye.  He used to hassle the kids at church in Sabbath School and Pathfinders, all my friends when I played team sports in high school that he helped coach, and now my adult friends.

Image: Robert Yaskovic - Pere Marquette, Michigan

Our son Finneus really looks up to his Papa and I can see that he's learning the ways of teasing and trash talking from him.  There's no disrespect in his game but he's picking up what's funny and loves to poke the bear with Papa.  They tease each other and wrestle.  Finn laughs as he tries to twist and punch his way out of Papa's arms.  It makes me smile to see this passed on from a generation to generation to generation.  Something so simple yet so important.  I used to be the one wrestling my way out of those arms.   

It's been a tough year so far for my dad.  He had surgery in January that he's still recovering from.  It's been really hard on him.  He's never had to deal with something like this before and after 70 years in that body, it's still hard for him to realize that he's 70 years old.  You don't heal as fast.  The body does what it wants and needs to do.  He's slowly coming back.  He's eating better again.  He sounds stronger on the phone when I call.  He's in better spirits even though I know there have been some dark days laying in bed wondering if he'd come back from all of this.  He will.  He's the strongest man that I've ever met.  He's my Old Man.

ART. MERK. - The Making Of A Fly Wallet

I first came across the work of Art Merk on his studio Facebook some time ago and though I am always impressed by leather artisans, it's not always just for their talented work in creating art with this medium but even more so by those that take it a step (or steps) farther by making something truly different and functional for fly anglers.  The leather fly wallets that Art creates are one of those things since along with a thick fly patch to hold flies there are also lockable pins for tube flies.  Absolutely genius.

I asked Art if he'd be willing to chronicle the building of one of these wallets and what he sent back went beyond what I asked for.  I think you'll enjoy seeing "in the kitchen" as much as I do.

This post is all the way from Lithuania which just shows you how far the internet and a handful of emails can reach. 

Art wrote...  "Playing some sort of the role in fly fishing community around the globe is so much exciting.  One of the expression of this excitement is that you can receive a phone call, message or email from the person you’ve never known.  Such a surprise happened to me when I found an email from Mr. Cameron with the interest on my hand made leather accessories for fly fishing.  Therefore, he offered to write me an article about the process of making these accessories.  The main idea, which led me to this article to be accomplished was Mr. Cameron’s thought.  Well, he said “if you making these things by your hand, show the “kitchen” as anglers could realize what hides behind these accessories and their nice pictures”.  And I thought he is completely right assuming, that people getting to know a bit more about this will feel more value. On the other hand, it might be just interesting for anglers, how the accessories are emerging until their finest look. So this much is of introduction and let’s go ahead to the most interesting part

The process I will show is not exactly step by step or D.I.Y. time, but as it has stages I will separate them from each other.

BRAINWORK
This is the first and most important part – to create the accessory in your head and go through all the process. In other words, the aim of this stage is to visualize the item and realize each single detail which takes a part in its accomplishment. For instance, the size of anglers vest pocket, the size of flies, the average amount of flies that angler is caring with in general defines the size of a fishing wallet. Also what materials will be needed, what steps of a process will have to be applied in a raw.
In this stage I use a lot of sketching as well, visualizing conceptual models and paintings.

SELECTING THE LEATHER
When the idea of an item is figured, you simple take a roll of raw veg tan leather – completely blank material for following steps to be applied.

CUTTING
Measuring the piece of leather, exploring the quality, as the raw animals skin may have various damages as holes, scars, scratches. This is necessary to ensure the finest piece is selected. After this, you just cut the piece in shape and size you need.

PICTURE APPLICATION
After the piece is cut you can apply the picture you want. I personally draw all the pictures myself, as I am a painter as well. I prefer to use my own drawings, rather than found on internet and just printed, as it gives more character, individuality, it makes the accessory totally original.

TOOLING
The next step when the picture is applied, is cutting the lines. You cut the leather a bit, to make grooves, which later on will be carved with special tools. In the pictures you can see the transformation from the raw piece of the leather to the completely tooled, modeled painting with added texture to the leather itself.

PAINTING
So when the piece of leather is prepared, the time for painting comes. There are several different painting techniques, which can be applied for the certain result you want to get in particular. Well as you will have to write a separate article on painting the leather, I won’t go deeper in to this topic this time.

ASSEMBLING
So the piece of leather is ready. All the rest of parts are ready as well. It is time to glue the pieces together and stitch the edges. Stitching is done by hand as everything else. Firstly, you make the wholes with special tool and then you stitch each of them one by one.

IMPREGNATION
So before the very final step, every single accessory for fly fishing is penetrated with special mixture, which consist only natural elements. Most important of them is natural beeswax. Considering the conditions, the accessories will be used at, impregnation is very important as it provides protection from environmental influences, like direct sun, heat, cold. It also gives some sort of water resistance. It means that wallet will not get saggy in the rain, or when drops in the water. Also the painting is covered with a layer of special lacquer, to give extra protection in case of scratches.

FINISHING EDGES
And the very last step is the application of special wax to make edges nice and round.

Voilà the wallet is ready!

Interested in seeing more of Art Merk's work?  Please visit his website and Facebook pages.